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OPEN LETTER TO THE HONORED PRESIDENT 
>F THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



by Modesto C. Rolland 

" La Paz, Lower California 



iexican citizen, and no less a citizen of the world of ideas, appeal to you 

der of American thought and the interpreter of the true American spirit 

— that spirit which pulses in all your works, and by virtue of which the inhabi- 
tants of this land, the rightful heirs of the ideals of Washington, have raised you 
to the eminent station you occupy. 

We are not ignorant, Mr. President, of the fact that the enormous pressure 
urging you to lead in the conquest of Mexico is primarily due to the combined 
efforts of aliens resident in Mexico who have too easily acquired lands, oil fields, 
and concessions of various kinds, and who have extensive financial investments 
at stake. 

You are not ignorant either, Mr. President, of the fact that similar steps 
were taken preliminary to the occupation of Morocco, of Egypt, of Persia, etc., 
etc. Nevertheless, you have not supported the theory that "the flag follows the 
investor" in China. You are well aware that when a weak people has to deal 
with that exploiting capitalism which knows no nationality, the latter seeks to 
employ as its agents the army and the navy, and condemns to death thousands 
of human beings deceived by false phrases of patriotism. The exploiters alone 
derive profit from the final catastrophe. , 

Further, you know well, Mr. President, that the ammunition inakers and the 
bankers induced the government of France to disgrace that country's history 
once more by the occupation of Morocco, sending to the coast of Africa an army 
of press men who devoted themselves to the task of disguising the facts, de- 
claring that in the interior of Morocco foreigners were tortured and the people 
were starving. This precipitated the movement "for the sake of the poor 
people." 

You know that these same tactics are now being applied to Mexico, and that 
this policy of nefarious activity has for its centres the city of El Paso and 
"somewhere in Mexico." 

You know better than any one else, Mr. President, that the octopus of com- 
mercialism has captured us Mexicans, and that it tries to utilize the superior 
might of the American people in order to make futile our resistance, and after- 
wards more easily to suck our blood. 

We are told that it is necessary to save us from ourselves because we are 
incapable of regeneration. 

I ask the whole world if the struggle our people has maintained against 
feudal oppression and militarism in combination with the entrenched privilege of 
the clerical party, is a symptom of incapacity? 

For more than one hundred years this struggle has gone on, culminating in a 
final upheaval which has shown sharply and clearly the need of a new social 
order founded on the economic liberation of the people. 

The great landowners systematically oppressed the people and kept them in 
ignorance. The church, contrary to law, possessed enormous estates which she 
rented to the poorer class who could possess no land. 

They taught the people that it was their duty to obey and to be humble. 

Exploitation and lack of humanitarian principle was carried so far that the 
rich Catholic reclined on silk within the church, while outside he felt no responsi- 
bility for the misery of human beings treated solely as beasts of burden. 

Is not a people which has fought such formidable adversaries capable of 
regeneration? 

People who speak of the darkness of Mexico and of the necessity of pushing 
American civilization do not understand that in Mexico there has been develop- 
ing a social phenomenon such as has taken place in all parts of the world and 
that our people really deserve admiration for their resistance and capacity to 
live through the most disheartening conditions. 

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Americans in general ought to be enlightened as to our situation, Mr. Presi- 
dent, in Hke degree \vith yourself, so that they might Understand our situation, 
since they came to this continent in search of the very same ideals we are now 
pursuing. 

The Mexican people has known how to use force of arms and now is 
showing its aptitude to accomplish its national reconstruction. 

The revolution has released unimaginable forces. Wherever we have been 
able to secure peace there has been disclosed an intense desire for reconstruction 
under a new system. We are establishing the township system as the basis of 
self-government. We are resolving the agrarian problem by wise re-distribu- 
tion of land among the people. This land is expropriated wherever necessary 
at its intrinsic value. We are re-valuing the whole republic in the interest of 
just taxation. 

The great landowners did not pay into the treasury this proper share of 
taxes, in consequence of which the burden of the administration fell on the few 
who held small properties. 

The labor problem is receiving especial attention. In^ various parts of the 
Republic the workers have advantages far greater than in the United States. 
The system of public instruction is so intensive now that we have ten times 
more schools than under Porfirio Diaz. 

Finally the revolutionary government is engaged in immense efforts to or- 
ganize little by little the finances of the nation, taking especial cafe not to fall 
into the clutches of pawnbroking bankers, eager to absorb the resources of weak 
nations. 

All these are facts in the light of day, but the press, controlled by great 
interests, has left the public in ignorance of them and under the impression that 
the revolution has ended in chaos. 

When the revolution tried to impose some measure of restraint upon the 
unmeasured exploitation of oil fields, the Mexican people were held' up to view 
as outlaws, factions were accused of an intention to destroy property, and appeal 
for redress was made to the Government at Washington, with the result that a 
battleship was sent to Tampico for the protection of American properties. They 
will not be bound in Tampico by the regulations that they are obliged to abide 
by in the United States. 

We know that you, Mr. President, are aware of all this, and we cannot 
believe you desire war with Mexico, which could only result in devastation and 
misery, for which the blame would rest on you and disgrace and shame on a 
country so powerful and civilized as this, that would permit such a horror. 

We abominate with all the force of conviction in us, such illegal and brigand 
acts as have been committed, and these we have been the first to regret and dis- 
avow. Every sincere Mexican revolutionist has been filled with indignation at 
their occurrence. 

War would be a cruel parody of justice. Thousands of thousands of Ameri- 
cans would be destroyed. We Mexicans would disappear, and then the traders 
in war and the international pawnbrokers would plant their banners of triumph 
over a field of desolation. , 

Undoubtedly in the end they would defeat the Mexicans, but before that 
they would crush the spirit of democracy and equity which now inform this 
nation. 

Mr. President, for the sake of the American people, of mankind itself, it is 
for you to find a way to avoid war. The presence of American soldiers in Mexi- 
can territory, and the military pressure in general, whatever its immediate advan- 
tages or justification, is eminently dangerous. Through some unforseen accident 
it might inflame men's passions as to put an international clash beyond human 
control. 

In view of all the facts and considerations I have here advanced, however 
tentatively and incompletely, I respectfully beg you and all Americans sincerely 
desirous of the true welfare of humankind, to give the most earnest and unpre- 
judiced thought to the complex problem of Mexico and its future. 



MODESTO C. HOLLAND. 



New York, July 1916. 



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